| FLDS TRIAL: Possible H1N1 halts trial Juror’s child falls ill; 4 testify before recess | |
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By Trish Choate STANDARD-TIMES WASHINGTON BUREAU San Angelo Standard-Times | |
SAN ANGELO, Texas — ELDORADO — Prosecutors squeezed in testimony from four witnesses Thursday before a suspected case of swine flu closed down the trial of a polygamist sect member accused of sexually assaulting an underage girl he had taken as a wife. A juror’s child was running a high fever and might have H1N1, the judge said just before 3 p.m. Thursday. The trial will be in recess until the child’s condition improves, 51st Judicial District Judge Barbara Walther said. Walther told her bailiff to send the jury of seven men and five women home and inform jurors the court would call them in the morning. She told attorneys to return for a hearing at 10 a.m. today. A few minutes later, defendant Raymond Merril Jessop, a 38-year-old member of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, came out of the courtroom pushing a stack of boxes loaded on a small dolly. Jessop is being tried on a charge of sexually assaulting a girl in 2004 who prosecutors allege was 16 when she gave birth to his daughter. If convicted, he could receive two to 20 years in prison. Among the photographs jurors viewed Thursday was a July 2008 picture of a tiny girl prosecutors say is the child of Jessop and the teen. The tiny girl is wearing a pink prairie dress and clinging to the blue skirt of a 19-year-old woman, who prosecutors say is her mother. Also in the photograph is an investigator with the Texas Attorney General’s Office. He holds a swab in his hand used to collect cheek cells. Prosecutor Eric Nichols spent the day questioning four law enforcement officers to establish the credibility of biological samples collected from Jessop, the mother and child. Nichols also produced birth certificate and driver’s license records to verify the ages of those involved. His first witness was the Texas Ranger who was the lead investigator. Sgt. Nick Hanna testified that he walked into a log cabin-style home at the Yearning for Zion Ranch near Eldorado on April 4, 2008, spotting the young woman who prosecutors allege Jessop sexually assaulted. Hanna testified that on April 9, 2008, he took Jessop to a jail nurse in San Angelo. The nurse drew blood for DNA testing from Jessop. Thursday morning, Nichols produced two thick binders containing a list of the state’s evidence, much of it stemming from the historic April 2008 raid on the YFZ Ranch. But among the most important items on the list are blood and cell samples and DNA tests Nichols may expect will help prove Jessop is the father of the little girl. Nichols prompted Hanna to describe the scene with the jail nurse and Jessop. "I observed the nurse prepare and clean a location on his arm just like when you give blood," Hanna, who is based in Tom Green County, said. Hanna is a seasoned Texas Ranger who once served on the Department of Public Safety’s cold case unit. Hanna was on the YFZ Ranch investigating and gathering evidence with other law enforcement officers from April 3, 2008, through April 9, 2008, he testified. He saw a medical clinic, homes and a schoolhouse — "just the type structures that you might find in any community." Hanna also saw the temple annex and the large white temple surrounded by landscaped lawn. "There were certain things that could not be done inside the temple," Hanna said. Lead defense attorney Mark Stevens quickly cut him off with an objection that was sustained by Walther. Stevens also objected to Hanna’s testimony on the blood sample taken from Jessop. Officers seized the lion’s share of the evidence April 8 and 9 in 2008, taking most of it from the temple annex, Hanna told the jury. They carted it off in three locked trailers. Besides Jessop, 11 other FLDS men face criminal charges ranging from aggravated sexual assault to bigamy. Evidence seized at the ranch is expected to be instrumental in the state’s quest to prove those allegations. The raid was carried out after calls that later turned out to be a hoax. Thursday morning the jury of seven men and five women looked at images taken both from the ground and air of the YFZ Ranch, seeing the guard shack with its 360-degree view not far from the gate, the majestic temple and the log cabin homes. Nichols’ other three witnesses were also law enforcement officers. After the court was dismissed, Willie Jessop, a spokesman for the FLDS, said this trial reminded him of court proceedings soon after the raid with one key difference: Families are not separated. "It was a relief for me to be in a courtroom knowing that a mother and her child are together," Jessop said. Jessop argued that religion is at issue in this case. "If Eric Nichols said this wasn’t about religion, I would pull out all the boxes from under the tables that all say, ‘FLDS vs. the state of Texas,’" Jessop said. Jessop also argued that the tremendous amount of evidence gathered from the raid is as unconvincing as it is superfluous. He said the prosecution needs at least one person claiming victimization. "Would we need three trailers of evidence or one victim saying, ‘Thank you Texas’?" Jessop said. He said that out at the YFZ ranch, the trial has reopened wounds. "There are a lot of raw emotions," Jessop said. "A lot of people are reliving the raid experience." The 12 jurors and two alternates appeared tired but alert when the first day of testimony kicked off Thursday morning. They’d already been through a grueling two and a half days of jury selection that began Monday. Opening statements were Wednesday evening, and the trial is expected to last two weeks. Stevens asked jurors to look past Jessop’s appearance, lifestyle and religion. He pleaded with them to try the man only on the facts and evidence. Nichols presented a no-frills opening argument but signaled the importance of DNA evidence, the girl’s age and allegations that Jessop has taken one legal wife and eight "purported wives." Nichols pointed out that Jessop was 33, twice the victim’s age, at the time of the sexual assault the prosecution contends took place at the YFZ Ranch in November 2004. Jessop’s criminal trial is the first to come out of the raid on the YFZ Ranch, a religious community that housed about 600 people. Authorities took 439 children from the ranch. All have been returned to their parents or are with guardians. Standard-Times reporter Matthew Waller contributed to this report. | |
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gosanangelo.com Originally published October 29, 2009 | |
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